New AMD Processors Slated for Business Desktops

The release of new AMD Athlon and Phenom processors will help AMD round out its processor lineup for the chip maker's recently released business desktop platform. AMD is looking to better compete against Intel in the corporate client space, and these additional processors will give AMD a new set of processors as part of its enterprise desktop platform.

Advanced Micro Devices has released a pair of new Phenom processors, along
with two more Athlon chips, that will round out the
chip maker's offerings for its recently released corporate desktop platform.
The new AMD processors, which the company
announced Aug. 14, include a high-end, quad-core Phenom X4 9750B (2.4GHz)
processor and a triple-core Phenom X3 8750B (2.4GHz) chip. AMD
also released a pair of dual-core core Athlon processors: the Athlon X2 5600B
(2.9GHz) and the Athlon X2 4850B (2.5GHz). The two Phenom processors work
within a 95-watt thermal envelope, while the Athlon X2 5600B has a thermal
envelop of 65 watts and the Athlon X2 4850B works at 45 watts.

While
AMD has been emphasizing its notebook platform for months, the company also
sees an opportunity for expanding into the corporate client space, where Intel
has dominated the market for years. A recent IDC report found that Intel
controls 73 percent of the overall desktop market, while AMD holds a 26 percent
market share.

Although most of the consumers and business buyers are moving toward
notebooks and other mobile devices, such as
the Apple iPhone, corporate desktops remain an important and profitable
section of the PC market, and AMD is seeking
to round out its consumer PC offerings with a business-class platform.
The AMD desktop platform was released in
April and features a number of specifications needed for corporate clients,
including 24 months of stability for its processors and 18 months of stability
for the chip sets.
AMD also believes that its tricore chips
give the company's product offerings an advantage, since these Phenoms offer
more performance than standard dual-core processors, but cost less than high-end
quad-core processors.
The release of these four processors comes at a time when Intel is cutting
the prices of several of its processors, including chips for desktops. On Aug.
11, Intel
cut the price of two Core 2 Duo desktop chips: the Core 2 Duo E8600 (3.33GHz)
and the E7300 (2.66GHz).
Meanwhile, Intel is preparing to release processors based on its upcoming
Nehalem microarchitecture. The
first of these chips, called Intel Core i7, is slated for the high-end desktop
and gaming market. Once the first of these Core chips are released, Intel
will likely introduce a host of new processors for both consumer desktops and
corporate clients.
In addition to the new AMD Athlon and
Phenom processors, AMD offers a total of
seven other chips for corporate clients.